MBSE methodology to track and validate the interfaces of ANDES spectrograph for E-ELT

Lately, the Italian astronomical community has begun adopting Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) for the development of complex instruments, marking a first in its history. A significant challenge during this transition is the establishment of a robust and flexible method to manage the models of future astronomical instruments using the Cameo Systems Modeler tool, taking into account the important aspects of the process, i.e., requirements, interfaces, activities, etc. This paper presents an in-progress method applied to ANDES, a high-resolution spectrograph for the E-ELT telescope, that will be used to address many hot research topics in astrophysics. The method is developed around a custom profile (AstroMBSE) that refines the software capabilities, tailoring it to define the model elements and enriching them with the properties needed in the astronomical field. This paper focuses on tracing and validating the interfaces of the system. The method uses the nature of interfaces of astronomical instruments - mechanical, optical, thermal, electronics and network, fluid - to populate the blocks used to represent such interfaces in the system. These blocks are then used to create instances of the interfaces where the actual numerical values of the interfaces' value properties are stored and used to validate the two sides of an interface. The validation process basically checks if one side of the interface is compliant with the constraints imposed by the others. This whole process employs the use of computational blocks prepared in advance and reused for each interface together with Pattern blocks in order to make the procedure as light as possible in terms of set up effort and to reduce the introduction of human errors.